1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, apparatus, system, and program for image processing, and more particularly, a method, apparatus, system, and program for image processing, capable of recognizing, reproducing, and enhancing an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Future image processors will require a high ability of recognizing and reproducing an image, particularly one produced in low resolution.
For example, a color image is usually read by a color image scanner, taken by a digital camera (including the one incorporated in a portable phone), or copied by a digital color copier, with low resolution of about 200 dpi to 300 dpi, to achieve high image processing speed and to save a memory area. The low-resolution image is then transferred to another device as an image file having a predetermined format, such as TIF, JPEG, and GIF, for further image processing.
However, if the low-resolution image contains a character or line portion, that portion of the image may not be accurately recognized, or it may not be produced in high quality. This is particularly true when the image contains densely-arranged line segments, as the line segments may be wrongly recognized as a background of the image.